Benedict Cumberbatch was made a fool of during the filming of Star Trek: Into Darkness, much to the amusement of the rest of the crew.

Benedict Cumberbatch, the arch-villain of the upcoming Star Trek sequel Star Trek: Into Darkness, admitted that he was tricked into thinking he had to wear a 'special face cream' during the filming of the sci-fi film. The actor was apparently told that he had to wear a special 'neutron cream' whilst filming some dangerous scenes inside a laboratory, when in fact the actor was only wearing some not-so-special suntan lotion.

The actor and his co-star Chris Pine, who plays the heroic James T. Kirk in the film, discussed the brilliant prank when they appeared on last night's (May 3) episode of The Graham Norton Show. Benedict told the chat show host, "We were in a really futuristic laboratory with lasers that were trying to split a target smaller than a human hair to create a continual form of energy. And I was like, ‘Wow, this is the real deal, what can't we touch? What’s safe?'"

Benedict Cumberbatch struggles when it comes to making people not like him.

Pine went on to say how Benedict was tricked into performing an entire, serious scene with blotches of white sun screen on his face, explaining, “we told him he had to apply the cream in dots all over his face and there he was doing this really intense scene with sunscreen spots all over him.”

Benedict explained that he soon realised he had well and truly been had, but insists he took the joke in good jest and laughed it off before filming the scene for real. “I should have known. They had me, completely had me. It was really very funny."

Whilst on the show, Benedict also showed off his acting talents by turning the usually upbeat trailer for the show into a dark, sinister version, as per the request of the show's host (watch here). Given how ominously he can make the phrase "Hollywood heartthrob Chris Pine" sound, it really does bode well for his role in the film, which hits cinemas on May 9 (UK).